Hot Stuff

"Life is a message – listen to it. Life is a belief – trust it. Life is a gift – accept it. Life is love – think about it. Life is an adventure – dare it." Northern Sotho proverb from South Africa

I find myself referencing the weather a lot. As if everyone doesn’t already know it’s hot. I doubt they need me reminding them. However, I find myself unbearably hot at around 3pm. I can’t be outside then. In the morning, it’s crisp with a nice breeze, but come the late afternoon, BAM! Blazing sun scorching my pasty white skin. Lunch today was hot! Spicy hot! That only added to the heat build-up within me. My weather chat is largely to do with my discomfort with the language and lack of topics to cover with strangers in addition to my personal problem with being ok with some silence. J With most people, it goes from “Hello” to “How are you doing?” to silence in about a minute.

Slowly and surely though, I am making some acquaintances. I talk to the P.E. teacher about exercise, the Twi teacher about how to speak Twi, and my friend Richard about everyday living. Richard is my go-to man. He has shown me town, given me a pot to cook with, and has enlightened me about certain people and ways of doing things. He is a lovely man in his 50s, but I’m anticipating finding out that he is actually much older than that. Judging age is difficult here. Everyone appears so much younger than they really are. Apparently the same is true of me. An administrator told me today that I looked like I was 18 years old. Generally, I appreciate hearing that I appear younger than I actually am. But 18? Come on man.

So I’m here and I’m doing it, but still can’t help but think that I would be so much more useful somewhere else. Every other week, I teach a “reading” class to first year students. However, several teachers have told me that the students don’t get in to the methodology until second year. Well, I don’t need to teach these college students how to read, so I’m just going to bombard them with all the strategies I can think of and hope that at least one person will utilize something I share with them. Each week I teach this “TLM” (teaching and learning materials) class. Today’s class was supposed to have 40 students, and 12 students showed up. This was the random course that they just threw on the schedule to give me something to do, and it doesn’t seem as though anyone is taking it very seriously. Which, honestly, I might not either if as a college student I knew that there was no grade or evaluation attached to the class. Sure, as teachers we hope that students will simply be intrinsically motivated and want to learn just for the simple joy of learning, but in reality, students are generally motivated by grades. Now that I am here, I will try my best to contribute as much as possible. The first week was rough, but I’ve shifted my mindset a bit and am just going with the flow. But ultimately, I think this program needs to more carefully evaluate the locations they are sending their volunteers to and ensure that a place in high-need is getting serviced.

Being here is making me miss having my own classroom. Crazy, I know, considering most of the time I didn’t seem to enjoy teaching. But ultimately, I have always loved the teaching. Seeing kids excited about books and writing poems was a truly wonderful feeling that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Corny, yes, but true! However, the behavior management is what always frustrated me tears. Now though, with years of experience under my belt, I feel more prepared than ever. I definitely do not want to teach in a self-contained classroom again, but I would love love love to teach reading and writing and help shape some young minds. Even if only a few.